Team Herald
PANJIM: Iron ore mines in Goa are now open to public scrutiny with the Union Mines Ministry on Saturday launching Mining Surveillance System (MSS) and extending its powers to the people, a move that will allow the common man to blow the whistle against illegal mining.
MSS has been put up in place for 89 operational mining leases in the State. The Union Mines Ministry has so far received 42 triggers from Goa with total area of 248.88 hectares, which were found to be related to illegal, unauthorised mining as well as dumps at the site.
Union Mines Minister Piyush Goyal launched the satellite-based monitoring system, which can provide triggers for any mining like activity in the vicinity of existing mining areas. Developed under the Digital India Programme, MSS is one of the first such surveillance systems developed in the world using space technology.
Under the system, a digitised revenue map of each mine will be superimposed on its global positioning system (GPS)-enabled mining plan. The system checks a region of 500 metres around the existing mining lease boundary to search for any unusual activity which is likely to be illegal mining.
Addressing the mining States through video conference, Goyal said that under the system all major mining leases are digitalised for real time monitoring through dashboard and mobile applications. “This will help in identifying unauthorised mining activities on real time basis, sending triggers to the concerned officials of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and State governments,” he said.
“The power to initiate action against the illegal activities or the violators lies solely with the respective State governments. Centre has no power whatsoever,” the Minister clarified.
Goyal said that MSS has been extended to the general public, who can reach out to State authorities pointing to illegal or unauthorised activities around a legal mining lease boundary. “In the recent past, the mining sector in India has been getting a lot of flak for illegal activities related to mining operations. The current system of monitoring of illegal mining activity is based on local complaints and unconfirmed information. There is no robust mechanism to monitor the action taken on such complaints,” he lamented.
“The MSS system will help us in curbing illegal mining to a great extent. We need proper cooperation from the States,” he said, adding that mining areas would be monitored regularly, with more focus on sensitive areas.
MSS has already been put in place for 1710 working mines and 213 non-working mines. The Ministry has directed States to cover minor minerals like sand under the system latest by December 2016 end.
